Michael Peluso

There’s Something Special About Second East Lounge

May 11, 2025 by Michael Peluso

Photo: Michael Peluso ’25.

At Northwood School, there are four floors of boys’ halls, two floors in Bergamini, and two floors in East. All four floors have a great culture and connection, but I think it is safe to say that Second East is the most desired hall to live in, and that is due to one main reason, in my opinion—the lounge and the culture that comes with it.

The lounge is a small common area right in the center of the hall. Comprising two couches, a chair, a TV, and a fridge, this is where the majority of the boys spend their time in the hall. Every single night, as soon as the study hall is over, everybody rushes back to the hall to try to claim a seat for the night. Someone, usually Gus Garvey, is throwing a game on the TV, which right now is most likely playoff hockey. Garvey has been in this hall for two years now and can speak very strongly about the culture in the lounge.

Sometimes, it gets a bit too rowdy in this hall. People pulling chairs up from all over the place or even sitting on the floor. Everyone passes snacks around while getting into the game or having a controversial debate in the hall. The volume often gets raised way too high, and warnings are given out about quieting down.

Photo: Michael Peluso ’25.

Everyone is going to leave Northwood School with memories that took place in this lounge, even if they didn’t live in the hall. Students from the third are always coming down to spend time, and guys from Berg do the same. Even during the day, the lounge gets packed. Students will spend their off periods there studying with others or just hanging out.

The lounge is really a strong symbol of Northwood. It’s an area where everyone can come together, no matter who you are, where you’re from, or what sport you play. “The culture on Second East, the energy in the lounge, and the stories I heard every night were the reasons I requested to live up here.” Gavin Carr said.

During the last week and a half of school, I am sure the lounge will be as loud as ever, as the guys try to capture some of the previous memories of their time at Northwood before they move on as this is one of the spots that students cherish the most and will always remember.

Filed Under: Northwood Life

College Hockey Playoff Delivers Drama

May 6, 2025 by Michael Peluso

When someone talks about a college tournament, with lots of upsets, the thoughts usually go straight to the Division One basketball tournament, known as March Madness, but this year’s college hockey tournament had no shortage of madness.

College hockey has a different format than basketball, due to being a smaller market with less teams. The college tournament starts with 16 teams, 6 of which won their conference and the other 10 determined by regular season play, giving bids to the best 10 teams remaining in the eyes of the selection committee.

The image here was the bracket at the start of the tournament. There are four regions where the games are played, each region having a one-seed. Boston College, Maine, Western Michigan, and Michigan State were this year’s one seeds. The tournament started with madness right away when Michigan state, the 2^nd ranked team nationally lost to Cornell, who barely snuck into the tournament this year. Another one seed fell shortly after, Maine got rolled by Penn State in a shocking game. Boston College was on the verge of also getting eliminated, they were tied 1-1 with a minute left but managed to pull it off and move on to the Elite Eight games. Mr. Steve Reed was in attendance for that game and mentioned how exciting it was to watch. The number one seeded BC did not make it out of their region though, as the national champs of the previous year, Denver knocked them off for back-to-back years. Penn State continued their impressive play and earned their first ever ticket to the final four. Boston University ended Cornells Cinderella run and Western continued to play strong and made it out as the only seed to survive their region.

The final four was set, these games happened two weeks after regional games and these were hosted in St. Louis. The first matchup was Denver vs Western Michigan which was a rematch of their conference championship when Western won in overtime. This time around it was quite similar, another overtime matchup that resulted in Western moving on with a 3-2 win over the previous national champs. The other semifinal matchup was Boston University vs Penn State. Two very high-powered offenses were ready to match up. Goaltending ended up being the story of this game though as Boston University was able to hold Penn State to one goal and win 3-1.

Boston University and Western Michigan were now set as the 2025 college hockey national championship. This game was back and forth for a large majority of the game. It was tight and physical but in the third period Western pulled away and won the game 6-2. This was Western’s first ever national championship win, and they are building a new rink on campus, both of which will be huge factors in recruiting and potentially forming a new dynasty in college hockey.

Filed Under: Sports

Team Uncoordinated Repeats in NBL

April 15, 2025 by Michael Peluso

Schneid (left) and Peluso. Photo provided.

As March winds down, the 2025 Northwood Basketball League has officially come to an end, but there was no shortage of madness in this year’s tournament. The tournament had no shortage of entertainment with plenty of highlight buckets, amazing defense, and, of course, lots of bloopers.

This past week was the final four games and the championship. The first final four game was the defending champs, Mike and Will, known as Team Uncoordinated vs Maxim St. Pierre and Lucas Campion, who were preseason ranked as the 13^th best team out of 16. The St. Pierre and Campion Cinderella run was like one never seen in the NBL before, as they won two huge games where they were projected to get blown out. Unfortunately, the run came to an end, and Team Uncoordinated advanced to their second straight NBL championship.

The second semi-final game was Shane Tronoski and Ty Simonet vs Pete Moore and Henry Kress. This was an electric game from start to finish. Moore and Kress took an early lead and looked unstoppable. However, Tronoski and Simonet scored 8 in a row to punch their ticket to the finals.

The championship was a highly anticipated game, as expected. There were many fans in attendance, and a large following watching through the Instagram live stream. The game was back and forth, with Tronoski and Simonet leading 6-5 at the half. Schneid took over the game offensively, and Team Uncoordinated went on a 6-0 run to win the game and go Back-to-Back for the first time in NBL history. Schneid made a strong case for MVP with a 10-point performance to cap off his NBL career.

With the season over, it is now time for the awards, which are voted on by the fans through the NBL Instagram. The first award voted on was MVP. Will Schneid, Ty Simonet, and Maxim St. Pierre were the three candidates. The Defensive Player of the Year nominees were Lucas Campion, Pete Moore, and Mike Peluso. Most Sportsman-like was decided between Nick Palmer, Shane Tronoski, and Henry Kress. Fan of the year was between Gracie Hurlbut, Gus Garvey, and an anonymous fan who runs the NorthwoodBallFanPage on Instagram. The last award is the best dressed team award, which is between Schneid and Peluso, Campion and St. Pierre, and Palmer and Brunton.

The winners of the awards are as follows: for MVP, Maxim St. Pierre. “I want to thank everyone who voted for me, and everyone involved in making the league possible. People look forward to this every year, and I am very grateful I was able to be part of the legendary league for a year,” St. Pierre said when asked about NBL and his season. DPOY was Lucas Campion. “That is very well deserved, he was the hardest player to play against in my opinion,” Will Schneid mentioned when asked about Lucas winning DPOY. Most sportsmanlike was Nick Palmer in a very close vote. Fan of the year was Gracie Hurlbut, who even performed at the halftime show of the championship game. The best-dressed team was voted St. Pierre and Campion, wearing the Saints Golf merchandise, created by St. Pierre.

This concludes the third season of the NBL. Thank you to everyone who made this season and previous seasons such a success. The NBL looks forward to continuing the highly competitive league and crowning a new champion next year.

Filed Under: Northwood Life, Sports

NBL Round 1 Recap

March 20, 2025 by Michael Peluso

Brunton (left) and Campion. Photo provided.

The Northwood Basketball League kicked off the 2025 season on March 3^rd, and one week later, the first round is coming to an end, and the Elite Eight is right around the corner. The first eight games of the season were no disappointment to any of the fans. Every game has been tight, physical, and energetic. There have been some unbelievable upsets, crazy shots, and hilarious bloopers, and it has only been one week of the season. “This season is off to an insane start. I can’t wait to see how it plays out and if this intensity stays at this level,” Superfan of the league, Sophia DeAnzeris said when asked for her thoughts on round one.

The opening game on March 3^rd featured the defending champions, Will Schneid and Mike Peluso, against two rookies, Chase Brock and Liam Connelly. The energy and nerves were high for this game, being the first of the season. Chase and Liam took the lead early and were only down 6-5 at halftime, but ultimately fell 11-5 in a game that was much tighter than the score indicated. The second game on opening night was Gavin Carr and Parker Thompson, a team projected to make the final four, vs Lucas Campion and Max St. Pierre. Max and Lucas fought extremely hard throughout the game and were able to pull off one of the craziest upsets in NBL history with an 11-7 win, advancing them to the Elite Eight.

On night two, Justin Macleod and Matthew White took on Kevin Betsch and Devin Smith. This game was another defensive battle where baskets didn’t come easily. In the end, there was another upset, as Macleod scored 9 of the 11 points to take down the game’s favorite. Justin has put himself into the MVP conversation early. After this game, Pete Moore and Henry Kress vs Jake Shingles and Cody Betsch. The final score of this game was 11-2, in favor of Pete and Henry, but the score doesn’t tell the whole story. The game was 0-0 for 7 minutes, until Pete took over and didn’t look back. Pete is also in the MVP conversation again as he feels he was snubbed last year.

The next game was Jacob Brunton and Nick Palmer vs Drew Donatello and Charles Pigeon. This game is being titled “the most entertaining game of the first round” by fans all around the league. The game was extremely physical and fast-paced, with both teams putting their bodies on the line throughout. Charles and Drew went up 9-3, but Brunton and Palmer never backed down. They scored 9 in a row to win 12-9. Jacob Brunton brought tons of passion to the court and has quickly become a crowd favorite due to his physicality and his celebrations. This team will be great to watch down the stretch.

The highly anticipated Shane Tronoski and Ty Simonet made their debut on Monday night against Trey Zeren and Ryan Demers, filling in for Henrik Hinse. There has been lots of cocky talk coming from Tronoski’s team and they had the chance to back it up, and they did. They won 11- and easily advanced to the next round. Before the game, Simonet said, “This game should be quick. Just another warmup for us”. The second game was Cash Lawrence and Owen Maclean vs another top 5 seed, Nathaniel Poole and Peter Morris. This game was a nail-biter. The game was back and forth for the entire game. Cash and Nathaniel were trading buckets all day; the game was never more than one score apart, but Poole and Morris pulled away with an 11-9 win in the end.

The final game of the first round was Anton Malyshev and Anton Stackow vs Casey Morrisey and Ryan Racine. This matchup has been dubbed a rivalry game, as Ryan was expected to sign with Malyshev, but plans changed, and these two teams met early in the tournament. The game was heated and physical, as expected, and ended in an 11-8 final, with Team Anton advancing. As the tournament is just getting started, stay tuned, as the games will only get more interesting!

The Elite Eight Matchups are as follows:

Schneid Peluso vs Brunton Palmer

St. Pierre Campion vs Poole Morris

Macleod White vs Moore Kress

Tronoski Simonet vs Malyshev Stackow

Filed Under: Northwood Life, Sports

The NBL Preview

March 11, 2025 by Michael Peluso

The Northwood Basketball League, founded by hockey players at Northwood School in the 2021-2022 school year, has quickly become a highly anticipated tournament among the students and faculty at the school. Every year in March, 16 teams of two players start out with the goal of winning the NBL, a very hard tournament to win.

The past two years have consisted of extremely competitive basketball games, where players are willing to do whatever it takes. The games are played to 11 points with one and two-pointers as the scoring. The league prides itself on the quality of defense and physicality, which means some of the games take a long time for one team to reach 11. This year will be very similar. The pool of players this year understands the importance of defense, and everyone is willing to give it everything they have.

This tournament really brings people together as well. It is always interesting to see who teams up for the games. The matchups also bring lots of fans. The gym gets packed with people who are on the edge of their seats watching highly interesting basketball games between their classmates.

Before the tournament starts, the official NBL social media makes their power rankings of who they think could be the top teams this year. At the top place this year is team Uncoordinated, which consists of Michael Peluso and Will Schneid as they look to go back-to-back. “I’m very excited for this season. I think the competition is pretty stacked this year, and it will shape up to be a very entertaining year of basketball,” the 2024 NBL MVP, Will Schneid, said when asked about the upcoming season. The projected second-best team in the league this year is Shane Tronoski and Ty Simonet. One of the strengths of this team is its chemistry. These two are roommates and can make plays on the court together; they will be a very fun team to watch. Rounding out the top three is Pete Moore and Henry Kress. This team has height and skill, which can be hard to defend. Moore made it very clear he has unfinished business after losing in the finals last year, and he won’t leave Northwood without a championship.

The league is kicking off this week with the first round of games. If you would like to stay updated, follow @Northwood_ball on Instagram for score updates, game reminders, and highlights!

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Prep Team Falls in PHC Finals

March 3, 2025 by Michael Peluso

This past weekend, the Northwood prep team headed to Indiana for their biggest weekend of the year, the Prep Hockey Conference playoffs. This year, Culver Military Academies hosted the competitive weekend. Northwood was able to clinch the first seed in the East division, which led to a first-round bye. The Huskies arrived in Indiana for their first practice of the weekend on Thursday as they settled into their locker room.

The prep team could practice again on Friday during the quarter-final games. Northwood would play the winner of the Culver vs. Mount St. Charles game on Saturday. Culver won this game 4-3, which meant Northwood’s first playoff game was against the tournament’s home team.

On top of that, Culver had Northwood’s number this year. The Military Academy was 3-1 against the Huskies this year heading into this game. Northwood came out ready to play. They took an early 2-0 lead, and it was clear they were fresh from the first-round bye. Northwood continued to build and won 5-1 to advance to the championship.

The other semi-final game was between Saint Andrews College and Shattuck St. Mary’s, two prestigious programs from the west division of the league. Shattuck won the league the first 3 years it has been in existence, and they were going for year four, but Saint Andrews pulled out the win to advance to the finals with the Huskies.

This meant there would be a new champion for the first time in league history. Northwood and Saint Andrews have been an intense rivalry for the past few years, and this was a highly anticipated game. Saint Andrews scored the first goal, then Northwood responded, but the Saints scored right back to make it 2-1 after the first. The second period was a very tight checking, physical, and defensive period. Northwood still trailed 2-1 going into the third. SAC scored two goals towards the end of the third and an empty net to make the final 5-1. The game was much closer than the scoreboard showed.

Filed Under: Sports

Humans of Northwood: Nathaniel Poole ‘25

March 3, 2025 by Michael Peluso

“I’m from Dryden, New York, a small town with not a lot of hockey, so I’ve been traveling away from home to play hockey since I was around 8 years old. I played for the Syracuse Nationals for a few years, then I played in Rochester before going to Long Island for two years and then ending up at Northwood for my post-grad year.

“I think a crucial point in my life that helped develop me was probably my first year in Long Island. I had to move away from home at 15, and it forced me to mature and develop at a younger age than most people do. I became more responsible and confident, which has been huge for me.

“I would say Steve Mallard has been my biggest mentor. Not only has he been an unbelievable coach on the ice, but he is also a great person to look up to off the ice. He is always holding us accountable, and I really appreciate all that he has done for me. I can tell he truly wants the best for me, and it is awesome to know you have someone in your corner who will support you through anything.

“One of my favorite parts about Northwood is all the relationships I have built. I have a brotherhood with all my teammates here, and I know we will be friends forever. On top of that, I have built some relationships with people I never would’ve expected to. I was able to become close with people from all over the world and from different cultures, and it has been super cool to get to know them and understand their backgrounds.”

“I plan to play junior hockey next year; I’m not sure where yet, though. I will probably play for a year or two before heading out to play division one hockey at Union College in Schenectady, where I recently committed. It has obviously been a goal of mine forever to play division one hockey, so I can’t wait to get on campus and fulfil that dream.

As told to Michael Peluso ’25. Photo by Mr. Michael Aldridge.

Filed Under: Northwood Life, People

Humans of Northwood: Will Schneid ‘25

February 28, 2025 by Michael Peluso

Will Schneid ’25. Photo by Mr. Michael Aldridge.

“I think something that helped shape me growing up was just constant competition between my siblings. I have five siblings and am the third oldest, so I’m right in the middle. We would always play football, knee hockey, or basketball or be on the rink in the backyard, which molded me into a competitor and has stuck with me since I was young.

“Coach Mallaro and Coach Lynch have both been huge in my development since I first stepped foot on campus here at Northwood. They both truly want the best for me and have developed me into a much better on-ice player, leader, and person off ice. They set high expectations for us around school, which has forced me to become more mature and respectful. Another person I look up to at this school is Ms. Walker. I have had her for both years and always enjoy her classes. STEM research is my favorite class this year. The learning and research process is delightful, and I am excited to produce a poster with our results at the end of the year.

“As of right now, my plan for next year is to play with the Barrie Colts in the Ontario Hockey League. I signed with them last week and plan to spend a few weeks there once the season at Northwood is complete. After a year in Barrie, I am committed to studying and playing hockey at the University of Connecticut. Hopefully, after that, I can play professional hockey, which has always been a lifetime goal of mine.

“If I could, I would tell my freshman self the same thing most people would, and that’s just to take it all in because it goes by fast and just keep working hard because it all pays off in the end. I also would tell myself to observe as much as possible. Listen whenever you can and make it your goal to learn something new every day.”

As told to Michael Peluso ’25. Photos provided (baby) and by Mr. Michael Aldridge.

Filed Under: Northwood Life, People

Humans of Northwood: Drew Donatello ‘25

February 11, 2025 by Michael Peluso

“I was born in these halls, my father worked here for my entire life, so it was kind of a given that I would end up here at Northwood as a student. My parents also put me in hockey at a young age, and the competitive hockey program at Northwood has been amazing to be a part of for the 5 years I have been here and has been one of the main reasons I have stayed.

“I think the greatest accomplishment of my life has been the way I have grown as a person since I came to Northwood. I came here as a skittish 14-year-old, not knowing who I was or what I wanted to become. Now, I think I can say I have grown into a sociable, likable, and easily approachable person since I have been here.

“As I mentioned, Northwood has helped me grow significantly as a person, but it has done so much more. I have created friendships that I am confident will last a lifetime. I have made memories that will stick with me forever. Northwood is a place that I could never forget or replace.

“’I want to,’ is the mentality my parents set into me at a young age. They preached that every day is a new day, even if yesterday was great, even if yesterday was bad, every day is a new day, a new opportunity for you to accomplish something, and if you can string together enough good days, you can accomplish great things.

“Something unique about me is that I am a scratch golfer, but most people at school know that. Something people don’t know is that I am a cinephile, someone who loves movies. I spend a lot of time watching movies with Donny and I would say my favorite movie ever is The Gentleman.”

As told to Michael Peluso ’25. Photo provided.

Filed Under: Northwood Life, People

Pre-Game Ritual: Hockey Goalie Owen MacLean ’26

February 3, 2025 by Michael Peluso

This is part of a series of articles about student-athletes’ pre-game rituals. Read them all here.

Owen MacLean ’26. Photo by Mr. Michael Aldridge.

Everyone who plays hockey can agree that goalies are often some of the weirdest or most superstitious people in a locker room. A lot of times, goalies are in their own world and have unique pregame routines. Owen MacLean ‘26, one of the Northwood Prep team’s goalies, is actually one of these routine-oriented goalies.

“I don’t consider myself superstitious, more routine-oriented,” Owen Maclean said. Owen doesn’t have many weird superstitions, like doing his left skate first or eating the same thing 2 hours before a game. Owen has incorporated a little bit of variability into his routine while keeping what works steady at the same time.

Some of the biggest parts of Owen’s routine include doing the same stretching, mobility, and band work 90 minutes before puck drop. “I found this to be the best way to prepare my body, especially hips and hamstrings, for games,” MacLean mentioned when asked why this piece is crucial to him. MacLean also said that he has been doing this since his U14 year, so this has been constant for about three years now.

Owen will participate in team soccer and dynamic stretches after he is done with his routines. One of his favorite pregame parts is kicking the soccer ball around for about 20 minutes. When all that is done, Maclean tries to kill some time, focus on the game, and begin visualizing what the game will consist of.

“I don’t like sitting in my gear for too long before the game, it makes me feel a little tired once the game starts,” Maclean said while explaining the final part of the routine. Owen delays getting his equipment on until 15-20 minutes before he takes the ice. This way, he doesn’t have to sit around waiting, and his body will be ready and awake when it is time to go.